Ince and Elton railway station
Encyclopedia
Ince and Elton railway station, on the Ellesmere Port to Warrington Line, serves both Ince
and Elton
in Cheshire
, England
.
The station is unstaffed as it rarely sees a train at any meaningful time of day. 296 passengers are recorded as using the station in 2009-10.
A rail user group, the North Cheshire Rail User Group, supports and actively campaigns for an improved service at this station and for this railway line.
Northern Rail
's 'Adopt-a-Station' scheme is in operation at this station. Members of the local community support the station by carrying out regular duties such as picking up litter and ensuring the station remains in a good overall condition.
Some station signs are outdated, displaying information about long gone services to Chester and Hooton (see image of sign on Platform 2).
There is level access from the small car park at the front of station onto the Helsby platform. From this platform, to reach the Ellesmere Port platform, turn left, go down the platform end ramp, and providing the level crossing
warning lights indicate that it is safe, cross the lines using the foot crossing and then up the platform end ramp.
The road leading down from the main road at Ince to the station is step-free, although there is no pavement. The alternative exit, via the narrow path involves walking up steep steps, which is not accessible for passengers with pushchairs and/or mobility problems.
and Ellesmere Port
). Two of these trains (one morning and one evening) continue to Warrington Bank Quay
, whilst the first of the morning comes from there (the one afternoon train that ran through to no longer operates). These services are operated by Class 156 diesel multiple units, (DMUs), generally in the afternoon, however most early-morning workings are Class 142
'Pacer' trains.
A branch of the Merseyrail
electric network Wirral Line terminates at Ellesmere Port
, the immediate station to the west. Only diesel trains use Ince and Elton station. The likelihood of electrifying the line and incorporating into the Merseyrail
network was low, as there are many dangerous substances and cables surrounding the trackside as the line passes through the Stanlow & Thornton Shell oil refinery
. However, Merseytravel have shown interest in taking ownership of the Halton Curve
south of Runcorn
to incorporate into the Merseyrail
network. This may entail the line may be electrified and brought onto the Merseyrail
network, giving access to Runcorn
, Liverpool South Parkway for John Lennon Airport and maybe onto Liverpool Lime Street. This would give access to Liverpool from both directions. Merseytravel's interest is ongoing and no outcome has been released.
There is no service on Sundays. A Saturday service operates on most Bank Holidays. In the event of buses replacing trains, only one service in each direction runs, usually in the late afternoon.
In British Rail terminology, this station's rail service(s) would be referred to as a 'Parliamentary train
'. This means that the Train Operating Company only runs the minimum number of services required legally, and usually at the least busy times of day, in order to still comply with the law, but to keep operating costs down to an absolute minimum. It is cheaper to run this service than going through a lengthy legal process of applying for station closures.
twice a day from/to Fiddlers Ferry on Monday to Fridays. On Saturdays there is one scheduled working.
When the Shell oil refinery at Stanlow used the railways to transport freight, over fifteen trains per day used this line. Since then, the sidings and signal box have been removed, and freight is becoming increasingly rare on this line.
No freight trains currently use the station, other than to pass through it.
This station was earmarked for closure, along with Stanlow and Thornton
, Helsby
and Ellesmere Port
, under the proposals made by Dr. Beeching, see (Beeching Axe
). This was never implemented, although services gradually began to reduce. Services originally operated regularly between Helsby and Hooton
via Ellesmere Port, with some services running through to Rock Ferry
prior to the electrification of the line between there and Hooton in 1985. Once electric trains began running to Hooton, the service was revamped to run between Chester and Helsby via Hooton (with a reversal there) every 30 minutes on weekdays & Saturdays. Convenient connections were available at Helsby for Warrington & Manchester and at Hooton for Liverpool. However, following the extension of the third rail southwards to Chester in 1993, the service east of Ellesmere Port was cut back substantially - most trains ran as a shuttle to Ellesmere Port only, with only a two-hourly service beyond there. The pattern was then altered again when electrification of the Hooton to Ellesmere Port section was completed in 1994 - from that point onwards, all services from Helsby terminated at Ellesmere Port but ran beyond Helsby to Warrington Bank Quay and Liverpool Lime Street (every two hours Mon-Sat), calling at all stations en-route. The new service was poorly patronised though, and by 1996 it had been cut back to the current pattern of two pairs of services each way in the early morning and mid afternoon.
At the station exit, there are two buses each hour. The number 36, operated by GHA Coaches
, operates towards Runcorn
, or in the opposite direction, towards Ellesmere Port
. Buses run until around 19:00 local time.
These services only run Monday-Saturday, (not Bank Holidays). This means that Ince and Elton villages are not served by any public transport on Sundays and public holidays.
There is a free small car park located just outside the station. There is no CCTV or staff at this station.
) is located in Elton, and is currently undergoing expansion near this railway station. The Network Rail Route Strategy Guide states that Quinn Glass is interested in additional passenger and freight services on this line. It is also interpreted that planning permission requires Quinn Glass to maximise upon existing public transport links, as well as create new ones. These plans could potentially lead to new services on this line, as well as improved station facilities and rolling stock.
Ince
Ince is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It is situated immediately to the east of the Stanlow Oil Refinery. It shares Ince and Elton railway station with the village of Elton, which it runs into...
and Elton
Elton, Cheshire
Elton is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It is situated approximately to the northeast of Chester, between Helsby and Ellesmere Port, near to the River Mersey. Its proximity to the River Mersey and...
in Cheshire
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
The station is unstaffed as it rarely sees a train at any meaningful time of day. 296 passengers are recorded as using the station in 2009-10.
A rail user group, the North Cheshire Rail User Group, supports and actively campaigns for an improved service at this station and for this railway line.
Northern Rail
Northern Rail
Northern Rail is a British train operating company that has operated local passenger services in Northern England since 2004. Northern Rail's owner, Serco-Abellio, is a consortium formed of Abellio and Serco, an international operator of public transport systems...
's 'Adopt-a-Station' scheme is in operation at this station. Members of the local community support the station by carrying out regular duties such as picking up litter and ensuring the station remains in a good overall condition.
Accessibility
Level crossing
A level crossing occurs where a railway line is intersected by a road or path onone level, without recourse to a bridge or tunnel. It is a type of at-grade intersection. The term also applies when a light rail line with separate right-of-way or reserved track crosses a road in the same fashion...
warning lights indicate that it is safe, cross the lines using the foot crossing and then up the platform end ramp.
The road leading down from the main road at Ince to the station is step-free, although there is no pavement. The alternative exit, via the narrow path involves walking up steep steps, which is not accessible for passengers with pushchairs and/or mobility problems.
Service
Four trains a day call here in each direction (towards HelsbyHelsby railway station
Helsby railway station serves the village of Helsby in Cheshire. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II listed building.-Adopt-a-Station:...
and Ellesmere Port
Ellesmere Port railway station
Ellesmere Port railway station is located in the town of Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, England. It is the terminal station of two lines on separate rail networks.* One of the termini of the Wirral Line of the Merseyrail network....
). Two of these trains (one morning and one evening) continue to Warrington Bank Quay
Warrington Bank Quay railway station
Warrington Bank Quay railway station is a mainline railway station serving the UK town of Warrington. The town centre has two stations on opposite sides of the main shopping area, Warrington Central operating a more frequent service to the neighbouring cities Liverpool and Manchester...
, whilst the first of the morning comes from there (the one afternoon train that ran through to no longer operates). These services are operated by Class 156 diesel multiple units, (DMUs), generally in the afternoon, however most early-morning workings are Class 142
British Rail Class 142
The British Rail Class 142 is a class of Pacer diesel multiple units used in the United Kingdom. 96 units were built by BREL in Derby between 1985 and 1987. They were a development of the earlier Class 141 which were introduced in 1984....
'Pacer' trains.
A branch of the Merseyrail
Merseyrail
Merseyrail is a train operating company and commuter rail network in the United Kingdom, centred on Liverpool, Merseyside. The network is predominantly electric with diesel trains running on the City Line. Two City Line branches are currently being electrified on the overhead wire AC system with...
electric network Wirral Line terminates at Ellesmere Port
Ellesmere Port railway station
Ellesmere Port railway station is located in the town of Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, England. It is the terminal station of two lines on separate rail networks.* One of the termini of the Wirral Line of the Merseyrail network....
, the immediate station to the west. Only diesel trains use Ince and Elton station. The likelihood of electrifying the line and incorporating into the Merseyrail
Merseyrail
Merseyrail is a train operating company and commuter rail network in the United Kingdom, centred on Liverpool, Merseyside. The network is predominantly electric with diesel trains running on the City Line. Two City Line branches are currently being electrified on the overhead wire AC system with...
network was low, as there are many dangerous substances and cables surrounding the trackside as the line passes through the Stanlow & Thornton Shell oil refinery
Oil refinery
An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial process plant where crude oil is processed and refined into more useful petroleum products, such as gasoline, diesel fuel, asphalt base, heating oil, kerosene, and liquefied petroleum gas...
. However, Merseytravel have shown interest in taking ownership of the Halton Curve
Halton Curve
The Halton Curve is a railway line in the borough of Halton, Cheshire. It runs from Frodsham Junction to Halton Junction , providing a link from the North Line to the Liverpool branch of the West Coast Main Line.The line can now be used only northbound because the southbound line and the...
south of Runcorn
Runcorn
Runcorn is an industrial town and cargo port within the borough of Halton in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. In 2009, its population was estimated to be 61,500. The town is on the southern bank of the River Mersey where the estuary narrows to form Runcorn Gap. Directly to the north...
to incorporate into the Merseyrail
Merseyrail
Merseyrail is a train operating company and commuter rail network in the United Kingdom, centred on Liverpool, Merseyside. The network is predominantly electric with diesel trains running on the City Line. Two City Line branches are currently being electrified on the overhead wire AC system with...
network. This may entail the line may be electrified and brought onto the Merseyrail
Merseyrail
Merseyrail is a train operating company and commuter rail network in the United Kingdom, centred on Liverpool, Merseyside. The network is predominantly electric with diesel trains running on the City Line. Two City Line branches are currently being electrified on the overhead wire AC system with...
network, giving access to Runcorn
Runcorn railway station
Runcorn railway station is in the town of Runcorn in the unitary authority of Halton in the north west of England. The station lies on the Liverpool branch of the West Coast Main Line between Weaver Junction & and is operated by Virgin Trains...
, Liverpool South Parkway for John Lennon Airport and maybe onto Liverpool Lime Street. This would give access to Liverpool from both directions. Merseytravel's interest is ongoing and no outcome has been released.
There is no service on Sundays. A Saturday service operates on most Bank Holidays. In the event of buses replacing trains, only one service in each direction runs, usually in the late afternoon.
In British Rail terminology, this station's rail service(s) would be referred to as a 'Parliamentary train
Parliamentary train
A Parliamentary train or Parly is, nowadays, a British English term for a train that operates a Parliamentary service - that is to say a token service to a given station, thus maintaining a legal fiction that either the station or, in some cases, the whole line is open, although in reality the...
'. This means that the Train Operating Company only runs the minimum number of services required legally, and usually at the least busy times of day, in order to still comply with the law, but to keep operating costs down to an absolute minimum. It is cheaper to run this service than going through a lengthy legal process of applying for station closures.
Freight
Freightliner usually run a class 70 'heavy-haul' service to Ellesmere PortEllesmere Port
Ellesmere Port is a large industrial town and port in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It is situated on the south border of the Wirral Peninsula on the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal, which in turn gives access to the River...
twice a day from/to Fiddlers Ferry on Monday to Fridays. On Saturdays there is one scheduled working.
When the Shell oil refinery at Stanlow used the railways to transport freight, over fifteen trains per day used this line. Since then, the sidings and signal box have been removed, and freight is becoming increasingly rare on this line.
No freight trains currently use the station, other than to pass through it.
History
Ince station was opened on 1 July 1863 by the Birkenhead Joint Railway. It was renamed Ince and Elton on 17 April 1884.This station was earmarked for closure, along with Stanlow and Thornton
Stanlow and Thornton railway station
The unstaffed rail station at Stanlow & Thornton is located within the Stanlow Shell oil refinery in Cheshire, England.The UK OS Grid Reference is SJ441760.It lies on Northern Rail's line between Ellesmere Port and Helsby...
, Helsby
Helsby railway station
Helsby railway station serves the village of Helsby in Cheshire. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II listed building.-Adopt-a-Station:...
and Ellesmere Port
Ellesmere Port railway station
Ellesmere Port railway station is located in the town of Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, England. It is the terminal station of two lines on separate rail networks.* One of the termini of the Wirral Line of the Merseyrail network....
, under the proposals made by Dr. Beeching, see (Beeching Axe
Beeching Axe
The Beeching Axe or the Beeching Cuts are informal names for the British Government's attempt in the 1960s to reduce the cost of running British Railways, the nationalised railway system in the United Kingdom. The name is that of the main author of The Reshaping of British Railways, Dr Richard...
). This was never implemented, although services gradually began to reduce. Services originally operated regularly between Helsby and Hooton
Hooton railway station
Hooton railway station is situated in the south of the Wirral Peninsula, Cheshire, England. It lies on the Wirral Line 15 km south west of Liverpool Lime Street on the Merseyrail network, and is near the junction of the branch line to Ellesmere Port from the Chester line.The station is...
via Ellesmere Port, with some services running through to Rock Ferry
Rock Ferry railway station
Rock Ferry railway station is situated in the Rock Ferry area of Birkenhead, Wirral, England. It lies south west of on the Chester and Ellesmere Port branches of the Wirral Line, part of the Merseyrail network...
prior to the electrification of the line between there and Hooton in 1985. Once electric trains began running to Hooton, the service was revamped to run between Chester and Helsby via Hooton (with a reversal there) every 30 minutes on weekdays & Saturdays. Convenient connections were available at Helsby for Warrington & Manchester and at Hooton for Liverpool. However, following the extension of the third rail southwards to Chester in 1993, the service east of Ellesmere Port was cut back substantially - most trains ran as a shuttle to Ellesmere Port only, with only a two-hourly service beyond there. The pattern was then altered again when electrification of the Hooton to Ellesmere Port section was completed in 1994 - from that point onwards, all services from Helsby terminated at Ellesmere Port but ran beyond Helsby to Warrington Bank Quay and Liverpool Lime Street (every two hours Mon-Sat), calling at all stations en-route. The new service was poorly patronised though, and by 1996 it had been cut back to the current pattern of two pairs of services each way in the early morning and mid afternoon.
Public Transport Interchange
GHA Coaches
GHA Coaches is a bus and coach operator serving North East Wales and surrounding areas in the United Kingdom. Their current total of bus operations has increased dramatically in recent years after purchases of other local bus operators such as Bryn Melyn, Chaloner's, Hanmers Coaches and Vale of...
, operates towards Runcorn
Runcorn
Runcorn is an industrial town and cargo port within the borough of Halton in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. In 2009, its population was estimated to be 61,500. The town is on the southern bank of the River Mersey where the estuary narrows to form Runcorn Gap. Directly to the north...
, or in the opposite direction, towards Ellesmere Port
Ellesmere Port
Ellesmere Port is a large industrial town and port in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It is situated on the south border of the Wirral Peninsula on the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal, which in turn gives access to the River...
. Buses run until around 19:00 local time.
These services only run Monday-Saturday, (not Bank Holidays). This means that Ince and Elton villages are not served by any public transport on Sundays and public holidays.
There is a free small car park located just outside the station. There is no CCTV or staff at this station.
Future
Quinn Glass, (part of the Quinn GroupQuinn Group
The QUINN group is a business group headquartered in Derrylin, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. The privately owned group has ventured into cement and concrete products, container glass, general insurance, radiators, plastics, hotels, and real estate...
) is located in Elton, and is currently undergoing expansion near this railway station. The Network Rail Route Strategy Guide states that Quinn Glass is interested in additional passenger and freight services on this line. It is also interpreted that planning permission requires Quinn Glass to maximise upon existing public transport links, as well as create new ones. These plans could potentially lead to new services on this line, as well as improved station facilities and rolling stock.